Saturday, June 18, 2016

Caught Out Back....twice.

I've had a game-camera around here for the past few months, I've set it up in various locations around the place in an attempt to catch nocturnal visitors such as bob-cats, deer, coyote, and I have my hopes up for the possibility of a Sasquatch at best. What can best be attributed to the highly-skilled person who sets it up and programs it, the camera has failed to catch anything of note. Although, I've managed to get a hundred images of myself, sneaking up to it to check the card, and a few blurry close-ups of what must be my face when I'm trying to figure out if its turned on or not. I've got some really good ones of me and the cat's wandering by on our walks, the back-end of my pickup full of garbage going by on my way to town, then another one taken 5 hours later on my return of the back half of my pickup going the other direction with boards sticking out of the back.
Interesting shots like that.

Quite often I don't get it turned on to it's liking, and it sets out there strapped to the tree for a week unarmed in wait for an unsuspecting passerby in the night, which is probably when the goddamn Sasquatch wandered by.

During a routine peruse of the card a month or so ago I was clicking through all these same old pictures of me an my cats, pickup bumper, and the odd tail-end of a motorcycle or quad, and often just nothing, when I was suddenly shocked to come across an image of a strange vehicle. An older, well enjoyed, rusting out blue Ford mini-van, that looked slightly familiar, maybe I'd seen it broke down on the side of the road at some point, but vaguely familiar. I enlarged the grainy, out of focus picture up on my screen to have a better look at who would have business driving up back of my shop. Through the van window I can just make out the driver, and from what I can make out, he appears to be one unsavory looking low-life with a mustache, and obviously up to no good.
I checked the date and time, 1:20 in the afternoon.

The next image was taken at 1:40 of the blue van going the other direction. Through the side window this time I can just make out the passenger, who looks even more unsavory than the driver, if that was possible. I shuddered at what these two unshaven, shifty-eyed, grungy looking dirt-bags had been up to out back of the shop for 20 minutes several weeks before. I didn't appear to be missing anything, but just the mere thought of these two scum-bags in my back-yard gave me the creeps.

I got out my magnifying glass to try and better identify the least desirable looking de-generate of the two. So I'm studying this creep in the passenger side, who had a mustache at the time and is also starting to look vaguely familiar, when suddenly, I recognize him, ...it's... me?

Then I remembered, a few weeks before, my friend and Hotspringlodge reader Casey had arrived for his bi-annual camping trip to the hot spring and had wheeled around back of the shop to hose off his motorcycle that was strapped to the back of the van, and seeing Casey drove slower than I, the camera got pictures of the front-halfand I recalled that I got in and rode over to the campsite with him on the way out. Well, that solved the mystery of the two skanky-looking characters casing the place. (Sorry Casey)
In all fairness to the game camera, it did happen to capture one night-time visitor back in January.

Caught once more.

Back a few weeks I was up one Sunday morning early as usual, wandering out to the kitchen in my towel to put the kettle on when I noticed the indicators on the control-panel for the electrical system were not where they should be, which would signify a problem over at the shack, probably just a little something stuck in the nozzle of the water-driven pelton-wheel generator restricting the amount of electricity produced. This is a minor, common malady, and usually just requires me to wander over across the road to the pelton-wheel generator and open the nozzle a notch to blow any restriction free.
I wasn't quite ready to be getting dressed right then, and it being 6 am. on a Sunday, and out in the middle of nowhere, I figured I was pretty safe to wander over there in my bath-towel. I didn't wander over there in just my towel though, I put on my huge rubber boots, a down vest, and finished off the curious fashion statement with a large floppy cowboy-hat, and off I went.
Crossing the road out back, to my horror, and no small amount of future embarrassment, I hear a vehicle come suddenly around the corner. If I had any warning, you can be sure I would have took off like a deer and hid behind the nearest tree, but they caught me there, on the road, fair and square, to as much their surprise to see someone out this time of day, as it was mine.
I sped up a little in the hopes they would blast right by.

To my further pending embarrassment the vehicle brakes hard, the occupants obviously curious about some dude out at dawn in his boots several sizes too large for him, sombrero, down-vest, and wearing a bright yellow bath-towel around his waist, seemingly out in the middle of no-where.
They skidded up beside and stopped, and a moment of silence followed.

"Howdy" I said, as they stared at me,
"Nice day for a drive!" I added, hoping they would take the hint.

"It is too." responded the passenger, eyeing my strange outfit.

The driver leans into view, he too interested in the my bizarre attire.

"Is everything alright there... cowboy?" he asks, thinking I must be on mushrooms or something.

They looked at each other for a moment, then the passenger turns and says,
"Ya, well, if I were you, ...I'd see a Doctor about that."
They drove slowly off, and I can only imagine the conversation that was going on in the cab of that truck. I strode on over to the pelton-wheel shack, gum-boots, down-vest, hat towel and all, blew the junk from my nozzle, and restored the power output back to the desired level.
And like a deer, I made damn sure the coast was clear when I crossed that road.

About Me

I'll write about what I know, and what I've done. I've raced motorcycles, fixed them and answered the phone. I've worked with heavy equipment in the north, mined placer gold in the Klondike, and saw-milled timbers in the Central American jungle. For 20 years now I've lived at a beautiful, historic, remote hot spring property with a water driven generator out in Indian territory. Sometimes I'm called upon as a musician. I've been fortunate to have done some really cool stuff too. Those are the experiences I will share.
Enjoy.